Arrest in 'Baby Hope' Cold Case

NYPD Charges Cousin With Murder of Child Found Dead More Than 20 years ago.

ENLARGE

Conrado Juarez, 52, approaches the bench before his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on Saturday.
AP

By

Pervaiz Shallwani And

Sarah Armaghan

Updated Oct. 13, 2013 10:49 a.m. ET

The cousin of a slain 4-year-old girl known only as Baby Hope was charged with murder after he allegedly confessed to smothering the child, a development investigators are heralding as the potential conclusion to a cold case that has haunted them for 22 years.

Conrado Juarez, 52 years old, allegedly confessed to investigators on Saturday morning that he sexually assaulted Anjelica Castillo, smothered her with a pillow and disposed of the body with the help of his sister Balvina Juarez-Ramirez, who has since died, Police Commissioner
Raymond Kelly
said.

ENLARGE

The grave of "Baby Hope" now with the name Anjelica Castillo.
John Taggart for The Wall Street

Mr. Juarez emerged handcuffed from the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn Saturday night—where the New York Police Department's cold case squad is located—and didn't respond to questions. He entered a plea of not guilty through his lawyer at an arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Judge Laurie Peterson ordered Mr. Juarez held without bail. He will be placed in protective custody at the request of his court-appointed lawyer, Michael Croce. He didn't speak during the hearing.

"At this time, I have not seen any statement," Mr. Croce said after the hearing, referring to an alleged confession police said they have obtained from Mr. Juarez. "I know that he was subjected to about 12 to 14 hours of interrogation."

Mr. Croce said Mr. Juarez didn't have counsel present during questioning. He said he met with Mr. Juarez for about 15 minutes before the arraignment and hasn't yet discussed the case with him at length.

At a news conference earlier Saturday announcing the arrest, police said they visited dozens of locations and talked to numerous people that led them to Mr. Juarez's home on Friday in the Bronx.

"I think this is just an amazing development," Mr. Kelly said. "It shows the phenomenal persistence."

Mr. Juarez is allegedly related to Angelica's biological father and to a woman who was caring for her at the time of the girl's death, said Erin Duggan, the executive director of communications for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

Mr. Juarez wasn't previously known to NYPD detectives, police said. Mr. Croce said his client doesn't have a criminal record.

The search for a killer began on July 23, 1991, when Anjelica's body was found in a blue and white Igloo cooler on an embankment along the Henry Hudson Parkway near Dyckman Street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, police have said. The girl's body was bound and wrapped in a plastic bag, police have said.

ENLARGE

The grave of "Baby Hope" at St. Raymond Cemetery in New York.
AFP/Getty Images

Police at the time weren't able to connect the girl to a missing person's report and knew only that she was between three and five years old. The case came at a time when the city recorded more than 2,000 murders a year.

"What sticks out in this particular case, it involves a small child," NYPD Assistant Chief of Narcotics Joseph Reznick said. "Any case involving a child is going to have an emotional effect on us and it just pushes you to solve them a lot harder than some of the others."

Every year on the anniversary of Anjelica's death detectives from the 34th Precinct—and later the NYPD's cold case squad—returned to the area around the crime scene in an effort drum up tips.

"Over the years, the optimism was always there, except the frustration would grow, the pessimism would set in," Mr. Reznick said.

ENLARGE

A flier soliciting information in July regarding the "Baby Hope" cold case near where her body was found in Manhattan.
AP

In 1993, officers in the NYPD's 34th Precinct took it upon themselves to bury "Baby Hope," paying for a tombstone that read "Because We Care" with their own money. Mr. Reznick, who was a lieutenant at the time, delivered the eulogy.

"They ensured she had a proper Mass and burial," Mr. Kelly said.

A break in the case came after this year's outreach effort, when a woman who had met Angelica's older sister in a Laundromat called the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline to say she had heard the woman tell a story that matched details in the cold case, officials said.

Police tracked down the sister, and from there, a woman believed to be "Baby Hope's" mother, Mr. Kelly said.

Changes to DNA testing since the 1990s led police to exhume Anjelica's body in 2006. With the DNA that was recovered from bone samples, police were able to develop a profile that was completed in 2011. The profile helped detectives make a positive match that allowed them to locate the mother, Mr. Kelly said.

Detectives then identified and interviewed relatives, building a family tree that extended as far as Mexico, where both the mother and father were born, police said.

They also created a timeline that began with the girl's birth at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens in 1987 to the day her body was discovered in 1991, Mr. Kelly said.

The girl became separated from her mother when there was a contentious split between the parents, Mr. Kelly said, adding that the mother had tried to leave with all three children, but was only able to leave with one.

The girl had been staying with cousins on the father's side of the family at the time of the murder, Chief of Detectives Phil Pulaski said. The girl's mother, who hasn't been named, knew that the family had the child and was attempting to get the girl back.

Investigators believe the girl's disappearance was never reported to police because the family were immigrants from Mexico and feared coming forward, two law-enforcement officials said.

At some point, the investigation led to Mr. Juarez, Mr. Kelly said.

On Friday, they went to his apartment in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx where Mr. Juarez's daughter answered the door, Mr. Kelly said. She allegedly told police that he didn't live there and had been in Mexico for the last 12 years, Mr. Kelly said.

In an interview with his wife, however, detectives learned that he had gone to work as a dishwasher in a Manhattan restaurant at 7 a.m. that day, Mr. Kelly said.

"Investigators met him near the restaurant where he is employed and convinced him to talk to them," Mr. Kelly said.

On Saturday morning he allegedly confessed, Mr. Kelly said

When asked how police had linked Mr. Juarez to the crime through the family interviews, his lawyer, Mr. Croce said, "That's what I'd like to know."

"He's been arrested, he's been through very traumatic circumstance here, it's a very traumatic situation," Mr. Croce said.

Mr. Juarez, who was 30 years old at the time of the murder, allegedly told investigators that he was visiting his sister's apartment in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens and encountered Angelica in a hallway, Mr. Kelly said. He told investigators that he sexually assaulted the child, Mr. Kelly said.

"During the act, he put a pillow over her face and suffocated her," Assistant District Attorney Melissa Mourges said during his arraignment.

When Angelica became motionless, Mr. Kelly said, Mr. Juarez allegedly summoned his sister from another room. Mr. Juarez allegedly told investigators that his sister directed him to dispose of the body and brought him a blue and white cooler, Mr. Kelly said.

The two then allegedly left the apartment with the cooler, hailed a livery cab and were dropped off in Manhattan, Mr. Kelly said. The girl was tied and placed in a garbage bag inside the cooler, prosecutors said. Soda cans were then placed on top of the body, prosecutors said.

The two allegedly carried the cooler together, walking through a wooded area and setting it down before going their separate ways, Mr. Kelly said. Mr. Juarez allegedly went to the Bronx and his sister to Queens, Mr. Kelly said.

Retired NYPD Det. Jerry Giorgio—who had dedicated most of his career to solving the case until his retirement in 1997—was in the cold case bureau of the Manhattan district attorney's office two weeks before police received the tip. He was present at Saturday's announcement.

"You know the expression 'I'm on cloud nine?'" he said when asked about his reaction. "Well, that's where I am right now."

Mr. Vance said that Ms. Mourges worked the "Baby Hope" case in 1991 and now currently leads the office's cold case unit.

The Baby Hope case has been kept before the public for 22 years because it has the right emotional factors to use the publics concern in order to change the laws of gathering evidence.

There is an underlying hope, on the part of Law Enforcement, that the law will be changed so that the DNA of an unknown-body can be compared to the database of DNA of criminals in the "hope" of getting a link that will help in providing the identity of the body.

That said... I have no sympathy for what happens to any convicted child rapist in prison when Bubbah gets a hold of him. When the wolves get put in a cage, a special brand of justice emerges. C'est la guerre!

What kind of society do we live in when a mother doesn't either know or care about her daughter's disappearance for 20 years? When the father fails to notify anyone that his daughter is missing from the people he entrusted her with. When people are more concerned with their immigration status than the brutal death of a four year old girl. When a daughter knows her sister was killed and doesn't report the matter to the police even after she is of majority age but will casually mention the story to an acquaintance. Did Baby Hope have any chance to survive in this world?

So this piece of trash molests and kills a child. Wraps it in a cooler under soda cans. Breeds and has his own loser children. Ties up the police for decades, probably costing taxpayers millions. And for all of this, he is a 53 year old dishwasher at a restaurant. If this is an example of the current immigration policy with Mexico, it isn't working.

A horrible case. I don't think there is a punishment to fit this crime, and if there were, I'm not sure I'd want to live in such a society. We'll have to do our best, and trust in divine justice. But I do thank God for NYPD Det. Jerry Giorgio and his fellow officers who obsess over one murder of a child from a poor community.

They're a shining example of what law enforcement should aspire to. Sure, the NYPD is a mixed bag, but really. This is great.

He was obviously an illegal or otherwise why the fear of going to the police. Why is the WSJ not stating his actual status. Have they fallen in with the PC crowd. This is an important piece of information because their illegality was an significant factor in the ability of the police to find and convict this man and his sister sooner. And, no for all you libs this is not and argument to give them a free pass and let them into this country it is a good reason to enforce our laws something that Obama refuses to do in direct contradiction to his oath of office. Speaking of which why can't we arrest Obama and throw him in jail for crimes against the nation?

It would be interesting to find out if Conrado JUAREZ was an Illegal alien from Mexico, as the author of this piece didn't articulate his Immigration status. If in fact he was illegally in this country, another strike for our broken Immigration system and OBAMA's dream for Amnesty.

There certain crimes that are beyond horrific. This was one such crime. If there is a hell, this cretin will find a home there for all eternity. The NY City police department never gave up; (and as a New Yorker) I can truly say they are the best.

"...officers in the NYPD's 34th Precinct took it upon themselves to bury "Baby Hope," paying for a tombstone that read "Because We Care" with their own money. Mr. Reznick, who was a lieutenant at the time, delivered the eulogy."Thank you and G_d bless you to the wonderful, caring and dedicated officers of NYPD's 34th Precinct. Your unselfish devotion to your job, your community and in your determination to see that Anjelica Castillo would be known and that her killers would be brought to justice, that devotion and caring is deeply appreciated by all of New York City and America. All of us are grateful for your ceaseless efforts. Thank you.I hope we can soon put Anjelica's name on her memorial. Please let us know where we can send contributions to do that.

They were among our 12 million illegal immigrants that seek amnesty. "Investigators believe the girl's disappearance was never reported to police because the family were immigrants from Mexico and feared coming forward, two law-enforcement officials said." Can we now deport the whole family?

"At this time, I have not seen any statement," Mr. Croce said after the hearing, referring to an alleged confession police said they have obtained from Mr. Juarez. "I know that he was subjected to about 12 to 14 hours of interrogation."

Mr. Croce said Mr. Juarez didn't have counsel present during questioning. He said he met with Mr. Juarez for about 15 minutes before the arraignment and hasn't yet discussed the case with him at length.

_____

Jon in half that time we'll get you to admit you're a molester too.

Who wants to bet that there was an interrogation of the victim and NONE of the NYC Police Chief's son in the rape where he walked FREE and the case dropped.

Those of you blaming illegal immigrants have illegal immigrants on the brain. Did you know know that real Americans also commit crimes? Talk about a desperate need of scape goat(s) to blame all our problems on...

Another possible strike against NYPD for not reaching out to ICE concerning foreign nationals committing crimes in this country. Your Democratic party has tied the hands of Immigration Agents working with local law enforcement by encouraging " sanctuary " cities where this type of cooperation is hampered. While I cant confirm this fact for sure, this policy of not sharing intel may well may have played a part in this case. I hope I'm wrong. This is especially true if Conrado Juarez was an illegal alien from Mexico , which I'm sure he was.

Dowling- You are wrong on several counts. DNA or no DNA in 1991, if the NYPD did not reach out to INS Investigations to check on the victims family members, suspects could have been better vetted and eliminated. 26 years in Federal law enforcement, I know what Im talking about and have seen this type of crime play out many times in the past and often times it Did Not have to happen.

Point II- What's this about "Illegal Immigrant on the brain" missy. If an Illegal Alien committed this heinous crime, then it needs to be called out. You Dems have to be so touchy and politically correct so much it makes a normal American want to vomit.

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